A field of the present invention is antennas for portable devices.
Antennas currently being used for portable devices such as, but not limited to, portable communication devices, portable computing devices (including hand held computers and personal digital assistants), and portable computers, are optimized by design for reception of specific radio frequency bands. For example, particular portable devices may include GSM antennas (appr. range 824–960 MHz), GPS antennas (1575 MHz), DCS antennas (1710–1880 MHz), PCS antennas (1850–1990 MHz), 802.11b antennas (2.4–2.48 GHz), and/or 802.11a/g antennas (5.15–5.85 GHz). Still others may provide antennas in 3G range, for example, or in other frequency bands.
However, because antennas for such devices are tailored to particular bands, reception in more than one or two bands typically requires multiple mounted antennas. This in turn requires valuable real estate on or in a portable device. It is desirable to make portable devices sufficiently small for practical use, while providing a sufficiently rugged design to allow extended use of the device.